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Stories   >   Luna Pearl Woolf and Royce Vavrek chat about new opera: 'Jacqueline' with Savannah's 107.5WRUU

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Luna Pearl Woolf and Royce Vavrek chat about new opera: 'Jacqueline' with Savannah's 107.5WRUU

Posted: October 23, 2024

Tonight on Contemporary Classics I am taking with composer Luna Pearl Woolf and Librettist Royce Vavrek about the recording of their Opera Jacqueline.  This opera, written in 2019, premiered in February of 2020, is an exploration of the tragic life of young cello prodigy Jacqueline du Pré who at the age of 26 years of age began feeling the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis and ended her playing career at 28.  The recording of Jacqueline was released this past Friday on October 18th.


From PR……Jacqueline is a powerful, award-winning new opera that dives into the real-life struggle between famed cellist Jacqueline du Pré and the multiple sclerosis that ravaged her body, mind, and talent - robbing her of her identity, her breathtaking musical gift, and ultimately her life.

The story is brought to life by celebrated American soprano Marnie Breckenridge (as Jacqueline) and former du Pré protégé and world-renowned cellist Matt Haimovitz, playing the role of her constant companion: her cello. GRAMMY-nominated composer Luna Pearl Woolf and Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Royce Vavrek chart the development of great prodigy and, ultimately, great tragedy. Told in four movements – I. Star Birth; II. Super Nova; III. Meteorite; IV. Impact – the opera references Haimovitz’s personal recollections of du Pré herself.

Colorful and at times funny, raw, joyful and audacious, the form of the work echoes du Pré’s iconic interpretation of Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, using the concerto’s four- movement structure to navigate a prismatic and passionate, if all too short, life in music.

Here's the TRACK LIST

Disc 1
I. Star Birth
1 On Stage*
2 Disease I
3 5 Years Old
4 You and Me
5 Recording
6 Intense Perfumes
7 Marriage I
8 Samson

II. Super Nova
9 Psychoanalysis
10 Dirty Joke
11 The Record I
12 Dizzy
13 Psychoanalysis II
14 Seductress I
15 Persecution


Disc 2
III. Meteorite
1 Telephone
2 Mon ami I
3 Disease II, Part I
4 Run
5 Disease II, Part II
6 Bathing in the Sea in October
7 Mon ami II
8 Cancellation**

IV. Impact
9 Ode*
10 Scuttlebum
11 Seductress II
12 The Record II

* Violoncello only
** Soprano only
 

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